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Samantha Yap · · 4 min read3 ways blockchain startups can educate their newbie users
Photo credit: vadymvdrobot / 123RF Stock Photo
Samantha is a TIA Star Contributor and publishes exclusive, high-value content that serves the Asian tech community. Read more from TIA Star Contributors here.
Working in this industry over the past year, I’ve observed that crypto startups want users to interact with their projects but don’t realize that the mainstream public still doesn’t know what blockchain and cryptocurrency are.
I’ve helped numerous blockchain and cryptocurrency startups tell their stories, and it’s easy for founders and team members to get technical when explaining their project. So before even announcing how they want to revolutionize, say, the energy sector or the real estate industry with blockchain technology, they must first consider some ways they can educate their potential customers, partners, and investors.
“How to” blog posts and explainers
The answers to basic questions like what is bitcoin, what is Ethereum, how does a blockchain work, and how can you buy and sell cryptocurrencies may seem obvious, but it is often very complicated for people who are new to using cryptocurrencies.
One of the cryptocurrency brokerage firms I work with enables people to buy, sell, and exchange bitcoin and Ethereum on their platform, but they do not hold or store any of their clients’ cryptocurrencies.
Here’s how that works:
Unlike storing fiat currency in a bank account, you can store bitcoin or Ethereum on a cryptocurrency “wallet” that can be generated online or offline. Then, to transfer money to a cryptocurrency wallet, you would need to send it to a wallet address that is about 26 to 35 alphanumeric letters long.
The process of transferring cryptocurrencies to a wallet can be quite daunting for people who aren’t familiar with how it works because if you make a mistake, the transfer is irreversible. There is also no central authority that can retrieve lost funds or help with resetting your password like in a bank.
In my client’s case, customers have reported lost funds several times as a result of transferring their cryptocurrencies to the wrong address. In other cases, customers have forgotten where they placed their private key password, which is similar to forgetting your pin code. In both cases, my client couldn’t help them because these details are not stored in a central database.
An understanding of the decentralized nature of bitcoin and the fact that no central authority can control or interfere with transactions on the blockchain will be useful information for users who are about to start using cryptocurrencies.
Some examples of blog posts we have put together have been along the lines of: “We are a cryptocurrency broker and not a wallet” and “What is a private and public key.”
Address the problem you’re solving first
Blockchain and cryptocurrency startups should be seen as ordinary startups that want to solve a problem and just happen to use blockchain technology. There’s nothing fancy or complicated about that.
One of my clients enables people to own and share real estate with blockchain technology. But before going straight into how the blockchain aspect works and why they launched a cryptocurrency token, I thought it was more important to tell the story of why there is a need for their platform in the first place.
What’s in it for them?
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